How rich the Southampton FC owners are compared to the Championship’s wealthiest clubs

The Championship is one of the most exciting and competitive football divisions in European football, but it’s not a fair playing field financially.

Southampton are in imperious form in the Championship and are one of the clubs aiming to achieve automatic promotion to the Premier League, which would mean bouncing back up at the first time of asking.

The Saints are competing with fellow relegated clubs Leicester City and Leeds United, along with newly promoted Ipswich Town, and the race for automatic promotion looks like it will go down to the wire.

Throughout the division, clubs are owned and financed by multi-millionaire and billionaire individuals and groups, all looking to achieve promotion to the richest league in world football, the Premier League.

Balkan investment

Southampton are financed by Sport Republic, a sports investment firm founded by Rasmus Ankersen and Henrik Kraft, funded by Serbian businessman Dragan Solak.

Solak is the founder and majority owner of the United Group media house, which has become one of the most prominent media companies in South East Europe, providing broadband, mobile, and TV services in eight countries.

The Serbian and his consortium became the majority shareholders of the Saints in January 2022, purchasing Gao Jisheng’s shares – which amount to an 80% stake.

Solak is said to be worth €1.22 billion and in 2021, he was understood to be the richest man in Serbia. The success of his media company is so much that it reportedly generates €2billion (£1.67b) every year.

Solak’s purchase of Southampton was believed to be part of a plan to create a Red Bull-style portfolio of clubs.

Southampton have the 10th richest owners in the Championship

Despite reportedly being the richest man in Serbia, Solak’s wealth barely scratches the surface of the most wealthy owners in the Championship.

According to the Sunderland Echo, the Serbian has the 10th highest net worth in the Championship, at an estimated £1billion.

Southampton’s automatic promotion competitors, Ipswich have a reported fund of $13 billion behind the club in their majority owners, ORG.

The American investment fund who, according to the East Anglian Daily Times, “manage funds on behalf of large US pension pot – the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System – and who own 90% of Gamechanger 20 Ltd”.

Southampton’s main competitors this season, aside from Town, are Yorkshire giants Leeds.

The Whites are owned by The 49ers Enterprises, who completed a full takeover ahead of the season. The group are the investment arm of the American football team the San Francisco 49ers and a number of high-profile sportsmen are minority stakeholders in the club, including golfers Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas and NBA star Russell Westbrook.

Southampton also fall behind Stoke City when it comes to wealth. Peter Coates and his son John are the co-chairman of Stoke.

Coates founded Stadia Catering in the 1960s and local radio station Signal 1 in 1983 as he began to make his fortune and the family’s wealth increased when daughter Denise founded the betting company bet365 in 2000, which now sponsors the Potters’ stadium.

Rotherham United kick off their season away at Stoke City.

The revenue of bet365 was said to be £2.981 billion in 2019.

Sunderland are also reportedly ahead of Southampton on the rich list.

Sunderland majority stakeholder Kyril Louis-Dreyfus did not make his own money and is instead the heir to the empire built by his parents Robert and Margarita, with the family fortune estimated to be £4 billion.

Despite his vast wealth, the Sunderland Echo did not put him in the top 10 richest owners.

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